The present invention relates to marking systems and, more particularly, to reusable marking systems including an erasable marking surface and marking device.
Prior art reusable marking systems include slate and synthetic materials which are marked upon by chalk and porcelanized or melamine boards which are specially treated to be marked upon by a liquid ink marker. Both of these systems are erasable using either a dry or wet wiper. Furthermore, both of these systems represent a significant cost investment. Because of the cost investment in these reusable prior art systems, their utilization has been limited to classrooms and selected business applications even though there are high-volume areas in which re-usable marking surfaces would be advantageous. For example, for in-store advertising in grocery supermarkets and drugstores, pre-printed paper based posters are used in which pricing or other information is written using various types of marking devices, such as felt tip markers. Once the information inserted by the felt tip marker becomes out dated, the posters must then be discarded. Nevertheless, the cost of the prior art reusable systems has continued to make disposable posters economical.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved reusable marking system.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a reusable marking system which is not erasable by inadvertent dry contact.
It is a still further object to provide an improved marking system which can be economically produced.
The above and other objects are achieved in a marking system comprising a marking surface formed from a high impact styrene plastic and a marking device using a water soluble ink. The marking surface may either be matte or calendered and is formed from commercially available styrene plastic sheet material. The water soluble ink is specially treated to adhere to the plastic surface. In a preferred embodiment, the sheet material is cut into various shaped signs which are self-supporting and permanently printed with advertising messages leaving areas for insertion of non-permanent messages using the marking devices. Tabs are formed as an integral part of each sign to provide a support. For larger applications such as bulletin boards, other support apparatus may be provided for the sheet material.